A Beatbox Saxophone Christmas - download/CD

Hip, peppy renditions of holiday classics with beatboxing by Bronkar and Shoehorn on alto sax. Bronkar Lee and Shoehorn made this and it is now available for download on cdbaby.com. Here is the link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shoehornbronkar
This was listed December 1st 2010, and will be added by itunes and other services soon.
Shoehorn's daughter Eileen did the cover art.

Shoehorn the Blue Monk - CD

11/11/06 was very special night. With two members of the band unavailable, I played the gig with our keyboardist Dan Gaynor and with Pere Soto on guitar ( wow!) plus the inimitable Artis the Spoonman on spoon percussion and electronics. In fact, all of us had electronics, and when you hear a drum set that is my feet playing a MIDI drum part in real time. I have perhaps hundreds of these recordings but was compelled to release this as a CD. It is way different than Cafe Cirque even though we play two of the same songs. We are joined by two more horns, David Carlos Vadez on tenor and Seabn Congos on trombone for a couple tunes, including Waking Up in Mexico.

Shoehorn-Trio Calzador

Trio Calzador is the third CD by tap dancer and saxophonist Shoehorn. It features improvisation on original music inspired by the places he has visited and the people he has met, languages he has heard and attempted, sounds and smells, memories and possibilities in a parallel universe. He also just plain demonstrates the ability he has attained of playing a lead on sax, tapping the beat and rhythmic outline of a tune while playing a third part via feet, all in real time, with no sequencing, on the Tappercussion MarkVII
e-tap MIDI controller. This e-tap is an amazing development which allows tap dancers to play chords, melodies, drums and tuned percussion, and sampled sounds with their feet. (see demo video on home page and "stuff for sale" if you want one of your own)
Also featured on the album are three cover tunes, "Blue Bossa"(with e-tap), Brazilian tune "Manha de Carnaval"(Black Orpheus) and "Yosaku", a Japanese song originally done by Kitajima Saburo, sung in the original language by Shoehorn.
There are a few solo numbers on the CD, one with e-tap ("Three Metals), a tap and sax "Malaguena" and a live "Liberty".
The other players on the record are also exceptional. Bassist Skip Elliott Bowman, here playing the upright, is a versatile player much in demand in the Portland area.
Guitarist Toshi Onizuka is a stylist drenched in Flamenco, who studied and performed professionally in Spain for five years. Here he shows true international duende - he swings, funks it up, and takes us to Asia and Latin America with his lively strumming and pointed picking.
The album is lively yet mellow sounding and is enjoyed by listeners from a wide range of demographic samplings.

Offered for sale is a Tappercussion Mark VII e-tap electric tap dance instrument. This item was commissioned by one of my students who no longer uses it. Comes complete with tap boards, triggers, cables, brain and power supply. Can be monitored with headphones or hooked up to any box with aux inputs. Please contact me by email for further information.

Earlier recording World Beat Ragtime

World Beat Ragtime 1994
available on CD and cassette
with Artis the Spoonman, Teranaka Meijin(g),Gary Fountaine(b),Gordon Lee(kb), Tarshene Watkins (voc)
Very Limited Supply
Send $15 US to
Shoehorn
P.O.Box 11634
Portland,OR 97211
be sure to specify Shoehorn Swing CD or World Beat Ragtime CD or cassette

School Show - academic outreach program

Book Shoehorn for your school assembly!
Shoehorn provides a highly entertaining yet educational presentation sure to be a hit with your students. Tap dancer and multi-instrumentalist Michael “Shoehorn” Conley has worked his whole life to embrace cultural diversity, starting with his experience as an exchange student in Peru, and continuing through his studies of jazz saxophone and rhythm tap, Spanish, Japanese, and other languages, and his interest in peace and environmental awareness, as reflected in his recordings and performances. His work demonstrates not only American art forms, but also illustrates the connections between other races and nations through rhythm and song.
Also available: musical ensembles and Jugglemania with Shoehorn

Contact: tappercussion@yahoo.com

the Shoehorn Swing

Shoehorn originals plus standard tunes recorded 1998 with Gordon Lee,piano, Mel Brown, drums and Phil Baker on upright bass.
Also includes two songs of Shoehorn over-dubbing on tap, e-tap, clarinets, alto and soprano saxes, percussion, xylophone, and and the kan, a Southeast Asian mouth organ.
Standout tracks include an acid-jazzy take on "Singin' in the Rain", complete with a multiphonic thundestorm! Limited stock- send US $15 to Shoehorn P.O. Box 11634, Portland, Oregon, 97211

Original Glass Art - Glass Art Work

We produce original art glass items by special order.Please refer to photo gallery.

TAP, SAX or Jamming Lessons - Lessons/study

STUDY.Want to learn Jazz/Rhythm Tap? Sax? How to play an instrument and tap dance at the same time? How about Improv and/or Theory? e-tap? JAM! Shoehorn is now accepting private students. Group lessons can be arranged.
contact: tappercussion@yahoo.com

C Fischer New York Made in France A clarinet - one piece is as long as middle 3 sections of a Bb clarinet a very unusual piece marked LP and with a hard to read stamp from France as well as Fischer marks.-no barrel or mouthpiece- plays but needs work- make offer

All songs by Michael Conley except as noted. Lyrics for ZapaMan Theme by Eileen Conley Michael "Shoehorn" Conley: alto, soprano & tenor saxophones, tap dance, fife Gordon Lee: grand piano, Fender Rhodes Miguel Bernal: conga, percussion Scott Wardinsky: bongos, percussion Damian Erskine: electric bass Martin Zarzar: drums also: Eileen Konomi Conley: voice on "Ice Cream & Bubbles", "ZapaMan Theme" Kite Giedraitis: mbira, bass kalimba on "Roses Love the Rain" Sound design on "Ice Cream and Bubbles" (vocal version) by Javier Goyes Recorded and mixed by Kristopher White at the Map Room Studio, Portland, Oregon, USA Mastered by Mark Frethem at Doctor Digital Thanks to all who supported this project on Kickstarter! Produced by MC Shoehorn Associate Producers: Ira Perkins, Ryan Rogers www.shoehornmusic.com Some notes about this music: The project came together after I was able to raise money on kickstarter to get the session going. My friend Mauricio Valadrian is a producer at Univision TV, so I asked him to consider directing a video shoot of the recording sessions, one of me with 5 other players, one of me doing some of my solo numbers. He agreed, and along with this CD I am releasing a DVD titled "Dances with Instruments". The CD title "Wingin' It'' refers to the spontaneous nature of the process. I brought the players into the studio completely unrehearsed except for a meeting with the piano player Gordon Lee. Also, my daughter performed on two songs, overdubbing vocal parts, which I had intended to be a texture in the arrangement but actually sort of commandeered those songs. Her part on ZapaMan Theme is completely improvised in Japanese, which she is fluent in, and refers to fun and dancing, and tap dancing. So we were actually winging it. Also, wings are a tap step. 1. 42nd Street Harry Warren & Al Dubin 1932 For decades I worked as a tap dancer and musician having never seen the play, the movie, or learned the songs from this iconic masterpiece. Then I saw the show when a friend came to town in a touring production and the whole cast came to a jazz jam with me and we took over the place and stayed after hours jamming and riffing. After that I watched a DVD of the movie and learned a bunch of the songs from the show and it's sister productions, including "Golddiggers of 1933", and "Footlight Parade". I try to channel the intense production values of Busby Berkeley into my horn and shoes and voice. 2. Ice Cream and Bubbles (vocal version- Introducing Eileen Konomi Conley) This is a tune I started playing last summer which grew into its present form over months of playing it. The drummers really make this come alive! I decided not to tap on this one. 3. I Hi Tabidachi Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百恵) 1978 The title translates as " A Good Day to Travel", and it is a very well-loved Japanese pop tune. Japanese music holds a fascination for me since my time working and living in Japan during the economic bubble years. I believe Japanese music is a rich vein of world music which is largely overlooked. I have recorded several other Japanese numbers on previous CDs. 4. I Don't Know Why (I Just Do) Fred E. Ahlert 1931 A few years ago my uncle sent me a recording of my late grandmother singing this accompanied by her brother, my great uncle, playing piano. They were obviously professionals, and their recording inspired me to internalize the tune and add it to my repertoire. The words are also really good. 5. ZapaMan Theme (vocal version- with Eileen Konomi Conley) I wrote this at the vibes two days before the recording session and thought it would be a perfect funky jam for the band. My 16-year old daughter Eileen came in to overdub vocals to this and "Ice Cream and Bubbles". I told her think of this one as Japanese cartoon superhero music and she improvised the lyrics as she sang. 6. Roses Love the Rain This song is my love letter to Portland, city of roses. I wrote it one day in June when I showed up for a gig at the Rose Festival but it was rained out. I wandered about the grounds with my fife and this came out. I later arranged it for piano and mbira, an African instrument, and tenor sax, with the mbira and bass kalimba played by Kite Giedraitis of the Portland band Fools in Paradise. 7. 42nd Street (vocal version featuring MC Shoehorn) I love to sing, and I am really into these Harry Warren/ Al Dubin songs from broadway and Hollywood musicals. I tried to do a completely separate recording for this, but I liked the feel of the sextet take better so I simply overdubbed my voice. 8. Ice Cream and Bubbles (instrumental) This is how we laid it down in the studio, documented on the DVD "Dances with Instruments", before overdubs. 9. ZapaMan (instrumental) This is also the original version from the main studio recording session, documented on the DVD "Dances with Instruments", with no overdubs. 10. It's Not You, It's Me ( dedicated to the memory of Derek Rieth, 1971-2014) This song started as a chord progression I came up with at the piano for a private lesson I was teaching. I started playing it more and more on my saxophones, and after my friend Derek took his life on August 20th, 2014, playing it became a way for me to channel the intense grief I felt. I had wanted to record with him, since we had a really special musical and personal chemistry. I did write lyrics in Spanish and English for this song, but I feel more comfortable letting my saxophone speak for me in this case.